Get Involved!

Small actions have a way of adding up to big changes. Taking action – even if seems like a small gesture – is the most important thing you can do to help. Hundreds of CRT supporters across the globe have taken small steps towards peace, and the energy is growing. Below are a few ideas. If you want help in getting started, just contact us and we’ll put you in touch with people who can share their experience.

We’d really like to hear from you about what YOU are doing. Send us your ideas so we can share them with others. Tell us about your experiences so others can be inspired. Every month we’ll feature an Action for Peace on our Home Page.

Join a local interfaith group, or start one.

Some communities already have interfaith groups you could join. If yours doesn’t, start one! Many people have never had the opportunity to sit and talk with people of different faiths and would love the chance. It doesn’t matter how you begin – you can host an interfaith Seder or Ramadan or Christmas dinner, plan an interfaith prayer for peace, or just get a few people together and see what happens.

Organize a community project for peace.

Whatever you love to do, turn it into a community project for peace. Host an art exhibit, organize a bike-a-thon, hold a concert or a poetry reading, cook a meal and invite the community, start a book or movie club. Dedicate the effort to peace, and use the forum to educate yourself and others about the issues. There’s no reason you can’t have fun while you are working for peace!

Bring a peacemaker to your town.

Most peacemakers come to the US periodically on speaking and fundraising tours. If you are interested in organizing an event in your town, let us know and we’ll put you in touch. You’ll get to know the peacemaker on a personal basis, do a service to your community, and help raise funds necessary to keep the work going.

Do an “internship” with a peacemaker.

Many of the peacemakers can use assistance in writing grants, organizing meetings and events, developing materials, and a whole host of other tasks. Working as part of an interfaith team doing on-the-ground peace building is a wonderful way to learn about the work from the inside out.

Take a trip and witness the peacemakers in action.

Instead of going to Florida on vacation this year, go to Israel/Palestine and see the peacemakers in action. You can visit Elias Jabbour at the House of Hope, have dinner with Ibrahim in East Jerusalem, attend an interfaith event with Eliyahu, visit with the women of Fureidis. They will appreciate the opportunity to let people know about their work, and you will have the experience of a lifetime!

Be a reporter for peace

Write an article for your local newspaper or your church bulletin to let them know what’s happening. Give a talk to a local school or community group. Take pictures of a local interfaith event and post them on a website. Videotape a peacemaker and put it on YouTube. Remember that the press rarely covers this kind of story, and most people are hungry for anything that gives them hope.

Be an advocate for peace and justice

If you see or hear about an injustice, do something. Religious discrimination is still far too common in our society, and each instance that goes unremarked makes it easier for the next instance to happen. Speak out, write a letter to the editor, write a blog, put a sign on your front yard, meet with the Mayor – do whatever you need to do to make your voice heard.

Take a course – or teach one.

Take a course on nonviolent communication or mediation or conflict transformation or community trauma healing. Study the great spiritual peacemakers from history, from Mahatma Gandhi to Martin Luther King, and practice the skills of nonviolence. Learn Hebrew or Arabic (or any other language). Study your own religious tradition or that of someone else. And if you can, find a way to offer your own area of expertise to others. Getting informed is one of the best ways to help move the global conversation forward.

Ask your congregation, faith community or civic group to get involved.

Use your existing networks to expand your influence. Collective prayer and group action are two of the most powerful forces on the planet. Most congregations and civic groups are interested in public service, and may be willing to making peace and social justice a priority. If you make your interest known, you may find abundant resources that can be tapped.